Crutch



Pat M y 2 1 5,

'umrsn sires "ATENT oF JAMES ALEXANDER MooEE, or WEIR, KANSAS,.assr'enoa or onE-HALE TO I. PHILLIPPAR, or WEIR, KANSAS.

Flea,

GUSTAVE GRUTCH.

Application filed September 28, 1921. Serial No. 503,707,

T 0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that 1, JAMES A. MOORE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Weir, in the county of Cherokee and State of Kansas, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Crutches, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to crutches, and particularly to cushioningdevices for absorbing the shock incident to the use of the crate Theprimary object of the invention is to provide a crutch of simplified andimproved construction, wherein the shocks and jolts to which the crutchisnecessarily subjected in use will be absorbed by improved mechanismcarried by the crutch and will not be delivered to the shoulder and armof the user of the crutch.

A further object of the invention is to provide a crutch of thecharacter stated wherein the cushioning mechanism is of simpleconstruction and composed of but few parts, the said parts beingconstructed and arranged in such manner as to adapt themselves readilyto the ordinary crutch now in use, which can not become readily broken,impaired or deranged, and which will prove thorou hly practical andefficient in use.

A still further objectof the invention is to provide a crutch of suchnature as to afford a decided cushioning effect to. prevent transmissionof shocks or jars to the user, and which when not subjected to pressurewill assume normalor extended position.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of thefeatures of con struction, combination and arrangement of parts,hereinafter fully described and claimed, reference being had to theac'com panying drawing, in which Figure l is a fragmentary sideelevation of a crutch constructed in accordance with the invention,Figure 2 is a similar view, parts broken away, and illustrating more indetail the manner in which the cushioning mechanism is assembled withthe crutch, v

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially upon line3-3 of Figure 1, and v Figure 4t is a similar view taken upon line 44-of Figure 1.

Referring now more particularly to the" drawing, the longitudinal railsor ,bars of the crutch are indicated at 5, and'these rails are spacedrelatively far apart at their upper ends, being connected by thefixed'head'6, and itis understood that they converge at their lower or.ground engaging ends. t

The head 6 may be secured to the spaced upper ends of rails 5 in anyapproved or desired manner, screws 7 being employed,

in the present instance, such screws affording a rigid connectionbetween the said head and therails. The shoulder piece or rest isindicated at'8, and is of such shape and size which might be deliveredto the arm of the crutch user through the hand piece 9, the latter isconnected positively to a traveller 10, the latter in turn beingconnected to the resiliently supported shoulder piece 8. Moreparticularly, the. shoulder piece 8 has depending therefrom at itsmiddle point, a rod or stem 11. This rod or stem 11 is as to comfortablyfit in the arm pit of the a threaded at its upper end to receive a roundwalls of the opening 13', and thus acts to. hold the shoulder piece fromupward or downward displacement, but permits said shoulder piece to havelateral pivotal or ro tative movement on said portion of the rod whichforms a journal or axis therefor. As.

shown, the opening 13 is disposed in vertical aline nent with a verticalopening 13 formed centrally in the head'6. The rod or stem 11 extendsdownward loosely through this opening 13 and through an opening in theupper guide nieinber'or traveler 10 and 'is threaded at its lower end toreceive amb nuts 14, whereby said rod or stem is fixed to said guidemember or traveler 10. This 7 guide member 10 fits loosely between theside rails 5, and is yoked at its ends as shown in Figure {lto looselyembrace the said rails.

The hand grip or piece 9 is provided near itsrends with openings 15 toloosely receive the side rails 5, as shown .in Figure 3, and

, the hand piece 9 is rigidly connected with the upper traveller 10 bymeansof the rods 16. These rods are connected to the traveler and handpiece by means of the jamb --nuts :17, as shown;

The expanslon spring 9 1sin the form of a coiled spring as shown,.thesame encircling V thestem 11 hetweenthe shoulder piece 8 and ,head 6,vand bearing at its ends against bear- 7 ing plates or washers 1 8.

By constructing thecrutch in the manner set forth, it is apparent thatthe shocks .transmitted to the crutch-when in use will be absorbed bythe cushioning spring 9, so that such shocks will not bedelivered to theshoulder of the'user or to the hand and arm through the hand grip 9.shall be of such strength as not to give or collapse too freely, so thatthe supporting eifectof the crutch will not be overcome. It

will be understood, of course, that in the event of vthe spring 9becoming impaired, it may be readily removed and replaced, and it willbe further understood-thatsprings of .the desired tensile strength willbe applied to vthe stem 11 in accordance with the desires ofthe userofthe crutch and depend ing uponthe weight of the person for'whose use thecrutch is intended;

" As the crutch is used, upon being applied :tothe ground,;tl1e weightof its user is thrown partlyupon the shoulder .piece 8 and partly uponthe hand grip .9. reason of the fact that these two main supporting orweight receiving elements are rigidly connested, they will both give atone time and the weight will be assumed by the expansion spring ,9whereby the shock incident to the V apphcatmnof the crutch to the groundin walking will be absorbed.

v A lso, 1 t will be observed, as the shoulder piece 8 is mounted toturn or rotate on the .rod orlstem 1 1, lateral motion of the shoulderpiece isapermitted relative to -the crutch body, this movement enablingthe crutch to adapt itself to peculiar twists which are fre- The spring9' quently given to crutches in the walking operation. V

With the crutch constructed and assembled in the manner stated, it isapparent, thatjthe objects set forth will be fully at-' tained, and thatfatigue and exhaustion frequently experienced by those having to usesupporting crutches will be greatly minimized or wholly removed.

The foregoing is a description. of the in vention in its preferredembodiment, hows ever, it is obvious that variations inthe constructionof the mechanism, the assemblage and coordination oftthe parts thereofmay be resorted to if desired without departing from the inventionasdefinediby the claims.

Having thusfully described my invention, I claim': t p

1 In a crutch, a'traveling hand piece, a

movable shoulder piece, means connecting said hand and shoulder piecesfor vertical movement in unison, and resilient means acting on one ofsaid pieces fornormally maintaining both of said pieces at the limit ofits movement in one direction. j

2. In a crutch, the combination with the side rails and the headthereof, of, a traveling hand grip carried by said rails, a shoulderpiecev movable toward and from said head, a connection between saidshoulder piece and said hand"'grip, and

a traveler movable between said rails, a connection between said .handpiece and said traveler, a shoulder piece yieldably. supported by said"head, and a connection thevtween said traveler and said shoulder piece.

5. In a crutch, the combination with the side rails and the headthereof, of a hand;

piece slidably engaging said side rails, a shoulder pieceresilientlysupported by 'said head, and a connection betweensaidshoulder piece and said handfpiece, said shoulder piece beingrotatably mounted on said con-- nection.

6. In a crutch, the combination with the side rails and the headthereof, of ahand grip, the said hand grip havingspaced openings thereinto receive said" side rails, a traveler interposed between said siderails and spaced from said hand grip, the ends of said traveler beingyoked to embrace said side rails, rods rigidlyconnectingsaid hand gripand said traveler, astem rigidly j'connected to said traveler at itslower end and In testimony whereof I affix my signature extendingloosely througn and slida-bly sup-- in presence of two Witnesses. portedby said head, a shoulder piece-rotatabiy supported by the outer end ofsaid stein, JAMES ALEXANDER and an expansion spring encircling saidWitnesses: stem and interposed between said shoulder J. C. BROADLEY,

piece and said head. WM. G. MORTGN.

